


Lyin' Eyes

by orphan_account



Series: The Library [7]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: First Meetings, M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-06
Updated: 2017-03-06
Packaged: 2018-09-28 14:43:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10118810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Prompt fill for tumblr user infiniterhapsody: Meeting at a concert."I think this will be my last song of the night," Lance starts, he gives the tiny crowd a sheepish look. "I might have been enjoying my time up here a little too much, but you've been a really nice bunch to talk to. So, this song is really old, and most of you probably heard it a million times, but it means a lot to me and I wanted to save it for the end, so, yeah, here we go." Shiro recognizes the song within the first few seconds as Lyin' Eyes by Eagles. He hasn't heard it in a good long time, but it comes back to him quickly. The story of a woman who's in a relationship for money and material comfort, thinking it's the ticket to an easy life, but in the end she's terribly unhappy because she's not living true to herself.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So I don't know if this counts as a songfic for not. I mean, it's definitely inspired by one and talks about one in pretty hefty detail, but it's not really formatted like one either. I absolutely refuse to put lyrics in the middle of my writing. 
> 
> Lyin' Eyes by the Eagles is really good and you should listen to it some time.

Shiro has too many things to worry about on his plate right now. There's the small things; keeping up with his classes, making sure he calls his father every weekend, spending time with his handful of friends even when he wants to do nothing more than just lay in bed and wonder why he couldn't just forget about everything and run away. On top of that were bigger things like work, an internship on the side, the bar exam coming up in little more than a year. 

 

The only place he feels like he can really let go and just relax in his own head is at a tiny bar downtown. He'd found it tucked away in an alley on one of his walks, the only sign of its existence being a chalkboard sign reading that Friday nights were open mic and all drinks had a two dollar discount. Shiro, and most of the other regulars, used the savings to tip the artists.

 

Shiro loved the place. It only fit the bar, and seating for less than twenty people. On open mic night they shifted the tables a bit and set up a bar stool and a standing microphone in the corner of the room. The kind of people who used it were typically singers, or amature comedy artists or poets looking to practice routines or give readings of their current works. It was always a low key affair and the atmosphere was never anything but open and accepting. 

 

It had only taken a few weeks for Shiro to make a habit of dropping in on open mic night. He never had anything to share; his life was too busy with his own stresses for him to have the time to  devote to creative endeavors. But coming in, sitting down for a few beers and just experiencing what everyone else had to show was something he could look forward to. Here, he didn't have to be in a rush to do anything, didn't have to think about looking or acting perfectly lest someone take it as a weakness to poke at him and call him unprofessional, a slacker, an idiot who had no idea what he was talking about. He could just mull over poetry and songs and afterwards, when the performers usually made their way around the room seeking critiques, it was a  _ conversation _ rather than an excuse to belittle someone. He always went home feeling refreshed and that perhaps not everyone was out to get him.

 

He's been taking it pretty slow tonight; he's on his second drink as he listens to the music. There's only one person performing tonight; a slim kid probably not too far out of high school. He's a cute, charismatic thing who had made himself right at home on the makeshift stage once it was clear he was the only person intending to put on any kind of show. He had an acoustic guitar with him and he'd been running through old covers and some original work for the past couple hours, taking time in between to chat with the crowd and tell stories about whatever just seemed to be on his mind. 

 

It feels like he's sharing so much, but, as the kid checks a couple chords, Shiro realizes he still doesn't know a whole lot about him. Just that his name was Lance, he'd grown up on the beach somewhere,and that his friend made his living as a mechanic. Shiro's been listening to him sing and talk all night, but he's not grown the least bit tired of hearing him. 

 

"I think this will be my last song of the night," Lance starts, he gives the tiny crowd a sheepish look. "I might have been enjoying my time up here a little too much, but you've been a really nice bunch to talk to. So, this song is really old, and most of you probably heard it a million times, but it means a lot to me and I wanted to save it for the end, so, yeah, here we go." Shiro recognizes the song within the first few seconds as Lyin' Eyes by Eagles. He hasn't heard it in a good long time, but it comes back to him quickly. The story of a woman who's in a relationship for money and material comfort, thinking it's the ticket to an easy life, but in the end she's terribly unhappy because she's not living true to herself. 

 

Halfway through the song, Shiro starts thinking about his own situation. He'd joined law school out of his want to help others. To fix injustices and help maintain order. Sometimes it felt like he was the only person to think that way. It seemed like his fellow law students cared more about winning instead of finding the best solution for everybody. While Shiro was doing his best to build solid arguments in their case studies, they all came in like sharks, poked needles in all the holes of his work and, when they couldn't find any, they twisted things, made weird leaps in logic and redefined the smallest things to make their own loopholes. 

 

Some days he felt like a fish floundering in the middle of a group of hungry cats. It was exhausting.

 

By the time Lance is ending the song, Shiro feels a little more tense than he's used to when he's here, teething at the rim of his glass. It's a ridiculous thought, but one that's pushed to the forefront of his mind more than once. Was law school a mistake? Sure, it wasn't an easy goal to accomplish, but Shiro had always told himself that all the trouble was worth it. He'd get out of school, pass the bar exam and all the red tape and he'd be free to just spend his time helping people. 

 

Shiro watches without really listening as Lance says his thank yous and packs up his guitar in a soft case. He'd told himself there was a pay off at the end, but how could he tell between optimism and pessimism? Was it really so easy at the end, or was he just telling himself that to get through the rough days? There really wasn't any way to know the lawyers he'd run into down the road wouldn't be exactly as meddlesome as his classmates. Who knew, they could be worse with the extra practice. 

 

Someone's hands creeps into view where he's staring hard at the table and Shiro pulls himself out of his thoughts. He looks up and sees it's Lance, his guitar over his arm and smiling at him kindly. Some of his worry dissipates as he sits up and reaches to get his wallet out of his pocket. 

 

"I'm so sorry. I wasn't paying any attention just now," Shiro says, thinking Lance has come over to gently pry a tip out of him. He pulls a ten out of his wallet, but Lance pauses, looks between them before he reluctantly takes it. 

 

"Ah, thanks. I was actually asking if I could sit though..." Lance says. Shiro stumbles a bit, but ultimately motions first to the empty chair, then to a waitress. 

 

"Help yourself. I'm just here alone," Lance sits and when the waitress approaches Shiro orders himself another beer, then glances towards Lance. "It's on me if you want something." 

 

"Water, please," Lance says then, when Shiro looks at him, "I'm just thirsty! I've been talking for like three hours straight." 

 

"I really liked it," Shiro says. "Both the singing and, you know, your stories. You're really good." Lance bites back the brunt of a smile, but his cheeks flush a little. He leans on the table and crosses his arms in front of him and Shiro realizes he's doing much the same. 

 

"I'm glad you think so. I haven't been doing this for a very long time, so I'm not like, the  _ best _ out there. I just mostly look for open mic nights like these and hang out." Lance motions to the others in the bar, who have broken up into their own conversations. 

 

"You do it as a hobby then?" Shiro asks. Lance's mouth turns into an almost-frown. 

 

"Not exactly," Lance trails off. Shiro doesn't know if there's something he just doesn't want to say or if he's trying to be coy. 

 

"Okay, can you elaborate on something for me then? That Eagles song you did at the end, you said it meant a lot to you but you didn't say how exactly. Can you tell me, or is that a secret? I was just curious is all," Shiro says. It certainly got him thinking. More than he has in recent memory. 

 

"Well, it's kind of a long story..." Lance starts. Shiro leans in a bit over the table, curious. 

 

"I'm interested if you want to tell it, but you don't have to if you don't want to. It just got to me, and I wanted to know what you were thinking," Shiro admits. Lance shifts, crosses his legs under the table when the waitress brings him his water. He takes his a long sip from his glass and Shiro watches how his lips wrap around the straw, the soft bob in his throat with each swallow. He half expects Lance to shift back into the same, slightly more chatty version of himself he'd seen on stage, but the Lance now seems a bit more demure and introspective as he thinks. 

 

"I'm kind of a deadbeat, if the get up I've got going on here and the fact that I don't sing for tips as just a hobby is enough of a clue," Lance says. He motions to himself and what he's wearing, the jacket about three sizes too big for him, the tired jeans and the worn in and grungy shoes. "A couple years ago, when I was a senior in high school, I moved to New York. From Cuba, so like, a big difference, yeah? I had something to prove and I figured the US was the best place to do that," Lance starts getting into his story then, sitting up in his chair so his arms are free to motion around with what he says. 

 

"I got a visa and I came up here by myself. I'm the youngest in my family, so they all had gotten settled in what they wanted but, I don't know. I just wanted to show them I could live by myself. That I could do good in a really big school. Like I could make a name for myself and be like, famous or something. In New York! Of all places!" Shiro’s brows raise. He imagines a smaller and scrawnier version of Lance in one of those massive New York City schools, determined to outstrip the crowds around him. 

 

"How'd that go?" Shiro prods. Lance's shoulders sag a little. 

 

"I hated every second of it. Everything was always about where I was from and not what I was trying to accomplish. I didn't know anybody. I was living by myself for the first time in my life. My family wasn't even in the same country and I missed them all the time. I mean, I passed, but I wasn't a valedictorian like I had imagined. I was just one person in a class of a thousand. I didn't even go to the ceremony because no one could make it up to see it. I just stayed home," Lance says. Shiro thinks about telling him something along the lines of 'That sucks' or 'I'm sorry' but Lance moves on before he has the chance to.

 

"So then I thought, 'Well, what did you come up here for?' I got  _ another _ visa and decided to give college a shot. I hated that even more. Everything was hard, and I suddenly had to juggle all these classes and campus life and living in a dorm and at the same time I'm still missing my family. And I'm starting to think I made a really big mistake. Like, I put all this work in but I'm too far down the road to just decide to drop it all and go back home to mom and dad with my tail between my legs."

 

"How'd that turn into you singing?" Shiro asks. He's glued to Lance's story, fascinated that someone joking around in a tiny bar has so much of a past to him. How did it connect? 

 

"My roommate got me into old American music. It was weird. I was just sitting in my room stressing so much over finals I couldn't sleep. Listening to the radio. Then that song comes on and it really  _ got _ to me. Like," Lance shrugs. "I just had this really strong feeling like- I didn't I didn’t  _ want  _  to be like the woman in the song, but that was exactly what I was doing, you know? She settled for someone who had money and made her life comfortable, but then like, she had to change herself for it. She was doing something she thought would be good for her but she's so unhappy that she can't enjoy it. I was the same way. I wanted to go to college in the states and do good and make my family proud, but by that point was just thinking about how much I didn't want to be there anymore. I hated it so much I wasn't paying attention to what was going on around me and I wasn't even really getting towards what I had set out for in the first place." 

 

"So you wanted to sing instead?" Shiro prompts him. His head is spinning. It sounds so uncannily like himself. His heart is jumping in his chest thinking that he's in the same spot. Caught in the ditch but still determined to force his way through the nettles instead of finding an easier route. Lance's smile feels like a hand reaching down to help him out. 

 

"Yeah, kind of. I had a guitar I knew how to play and I don't think I'm awful at singing. I just sat there at my desk and thought to myself 'If I could just get up and do anything else with my time here, what would it be?' The first thing that came to mind was that I wanted to travel. I wanted to meet people and see places and just, I don't know. Chill out and enjoy the view. So," Lance shrugs. "that's what I've been doing for the past few months. I sing and use the tips to either get a ride or a hotel room. It’s kind of dumb, that I would just suddenly drop out like that." He goes quieter. "My parents were pretty mad when I called and told them I wasn't going to school anymore, but I wasn't going home just either but," he slumps in his chair a little. "It's not like I dropped it forever. I plan on coming back to it. I just...needed a break, I guess." 

 

"It's not dumb," Shiro says quickly. "To be honest, I think I'm kind of in the same spot. Law school." Lance gives him a wide smile. 

 

"Yeah, you're doing better than I ever did..." he says. Shiro wonders about that. Was it worth it when he was depressed and dreaded every day? Was it really all that good when his trust in other people got whittled away by his peers? Maybe Lance had a good idea here. Maybe he should find a stopping place, put the law thing on the back burner and take a break for a couple months. He had been aching to go hiking lately...

 

"I don't know about that," Shiro says. Then, after a second to consider. "You have a place for tonight set up yet? If…if you wanted to save on a hotel, I have a spare room you're free to. I promise I'm not some kind of creep," he says. Lance brightens up and sits straighter, his cheeks glowing when he blushes. 

  
"I might take you up on that. I wanna hear what law school is all about." 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm quiddid on both tumblr and twitter.


End file.
